Why you should treat employee onboarding like a Valentine’s first date

Imagine the worst possible first date experience…

You’re sent to the wrong venue. Then your date keeps you waiting for ages and doesn’t let you know where they are or what’s happening.

When they finally do arrive, they get your name wrong and generally they appear to be completely disinterested in you.

It’s the kind of experience that makes your mind up that the chances of a second date are very  unlikely.

But it’s also the kind of miserable experience that’s fairly commonplace…with  a new employer during the onboarding process..

Long waits, admin mixups and poor communications are what many new starters face as they go through outdated employee onboarding processes. 

Here’s why you should think of employee onboarding like preparing for a first date:

Don’t make people wait

One of the most stressful parts of employee onboarding is the amount of time it takes to complete. New starters are often left waiting weeks while HR and hiring teams are busy processing their emails or paperwork.

The longer the process takes, the higher the risks become of candidates dropping out.

Deliver good communication

Poor communications make everything, like turning up late, worse on a date and the same is true for onboarding. After the elation of accepting a job offer, candidates find themselves left in the dark and not sure about what’s happening.

It’s important to make sure onboarding engages with new starters throughout the process – letting them know what’s happening and what’s required of them.

Avoid admin mix-ups

Giving somebody poor directions or a wrong postcode is not just a problem for dates. Simple admin mistakes are often made during the onboarding process with incorrect starting times and wrong office locations given to incoming hires.

It’s the kind of simple mistake that can make starting a new job a particularly stressful and bewildering experience.

Create a warm welcome

The onboarding equivalent of an inattentive date is a first-day experience in which nobody really knows who the new starter is and there’s no clear plan about who they should report to or what they are supposed to be doing.

An effective onboarding process should include a coordinated first-day schedule which aims to properly welcome a new arrival and start the process of integrating them into the workplace.

Learn from your mistakes

If things keep going wrong on first dates – it’s worth asking why. And with employee onboarding, it’s also important to keep monitoring your process and tracking what you are doing right or wrong.

If people continually drop out of your onboarding process, you need to know why. With cloud-based systems such as Webonboarding, integrated reporting tools allow monitoring of onboarding feedback.

Find out how Webonboarding can you deliver the best possible experience to new starters by arranging a call with our consultant here

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